France open to engaging on slavery reparations, says Ghana

Ghana said France was open to having ⁠discussions with a coalition ⁠of countries that are calling ⁠for reparations for transatlantic slavery, following a meeting last week with President Emmanuel Macron.Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama, accompanied by Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and other officials, held talks with Macron in Paris on Wednesday.Ablakwa said on X after the meeting that Macron had indicated France was open to discussions on reparations, including the return of looted artefacts, addressing global economic inequities and dismantling structural racism.An official from Élysée Palace said on Sunday that both countries discussed France’s efforts to return culturally significant objects and ⁠human remains, as well as the legal frameworks around these restitutions.John Dramani Mahama, President of Ghana, addresses the UN General Assembly during a March event marking the abolition of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. Photo: via dpaThe official did not mention ‌the additional measures cited by Ablakwa.The meeting followed the United Nations’ adoption last month of a Ghana-led resolution recognising slavery as the “gravest crime ‌against humanity” and calling for reparations.